Search

The motto of my old school, Wellington College, is Lumen accipe et imperti , take the light and pass it on. The school crest shows the light as a flaming lamp, the lamp of knowledge and truth. Last Friday it was my privilege to see the Olympic torch…

Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. Three years ago, the Listener published an article by Carl Sagan, the author and astrophysicist, which he began by saying that the 20 th century will be remembered for three broad areas of innovation: our unprecedented…

Shalom, shalom - may the peace of God, which St Paul told Christians "passeth all understanding", be upon us, as we remember. There are some events that nations commemorate, which their peoples mark year after year, even though the memories being summoned…

On a memorial outside the great wall surrounding the town of Le Quesnoy in northern France are inscribed these words: "From the uttermost ends of the earth." They are a tribute to the New Zealanders who liberated that town in the closing days of the first…

Eighty five years have gone by since that first nightmare at Anzac Cove on Gallipoli. Yet still we gather, New Zealanders and Australians all over the world, again waiting for the first light of dawn, waiting and remembering. For this is a time for…

Juliet Roger, Chairperson of Booksellers New Zealand; Jo Breese, Chief Executive and Viv Beck, General Manager, Communications, New Zealand Post; Rosemary Wildblood of Creative New Zealand; the three 1997 Judges - Gillian Newman, Convenor, and Robyn Bargh…

Nga hau e wha nga iwi e tau nei tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. The Children's Book Awards, and the Festival that surrounds them, have become one of the high points of the literary year in New Zealand, and we certainly relish the opportunity…

E nga mana tangata whenua, e nga hau e wha, e nga iwi e tau nei, e nga rangatira e tau nei, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Your Excellency, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the High Commissioner for Malaysia, and Datin Ivy; Honourable…

E nga mana tangata whenua, e nga hau e wha, e nga iwi e tau nei, e nga rangatira e tau nei, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Your Excellency, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the High Commissioner for Malaysia, and Datin Ivy; Honourable…

Korihi te manu takiri mai te ata ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea. Tihei mauriora! In words of our first people, I greet the new dawn, the light of a new day, the coming of a new century, of a new millennium. We in this land are the first to see a new day, but…

E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma , tena koutou. Nga hau e wha, nga iwi e tau nei, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Chancellor, our distinguished Visitors, Members and Friends of the University, ladies and gentlemen. Chancellor, I count…

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. When I accepted the invitation to come here today, it was initially to open this Seminar, rather than be one of three keynote speakers. Having read who they are, and who are the panellists to follow, I am not at all…

Thank you for the honour you have done me this evening. My wife and I are both very sorry indeed that she cannot be here too, but her doctor - not Ansett - has grounded her in Wellington. I very much appreciate too the honorary membership you have…

E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Mr Chairman, Your Honours, keynote speakers, workshop leaders, ladies and gentlemen. First, I want to thank the organisers of this Conference for inviting me to share…

"These laid the world away; poured out the red sweet wine of youth: Gave up the years to be of work and joy, and that unhoped serene That men call age; and those that would have been, Their sons, they gave, their immortality." Words of the poet Rupert…

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to Government House. I acknowledge particularly Hon Marie Hasler, Minister of Cultural Affairs, Rt Hon Helen Clark, Leader of the Opposition, other members of Parliament, members of the Diplomatic Corps,…

Nga mihi o te tau kia koutou. Thank you for your welcome, and for the opportunity to share in this 10 th Anniversary Conference of the University of the Third Age. The anniversary is one to celebrate in any event, but it is particularly appropriate that…

Tihei mauri ora! Uuia kia Ranginui e tuu iho nei ...     ia Papa-tua-nuku e takoto ake nei ...         tohia nga hua o te tau ... hue ha! E weehi ano to te Rangi ... e weehi ano to te whenua ...     e weehi ano to te takiwa ... ko te weehi kia Ihowa o nga…

Introduction Dr Peter Hennessy, the well known constitutional historian, once gave a speech in which he described how, over half a lifetime, he had searched for official documents articulating the principles on which the British Constitution is based. He…

Introduction Dr Peter Hennessy, the well known constitutional historian, once gave a speech in which he described how, over half a lifetime, he had searched for official documents articulating the principles on which the British Constitution is based. He…

E mihi ana ki te Rangi E mihi ana ki te whenua E mihi ana ki a tatou katoa tena koutou. E nga mana E nga reo Rau rangatira ma tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Librarians and Library staff, Friends of the Hocken,…

Suzanne Hannagan, President, Lyn Farry, Vice President - thank you for the invitation to share this evening with you, and so to meet Zonta in Dunedin as well as in Wellington. And my congratulations to you of the Metropolitan Dunedin Club on your first…

Nga hau e wha, nga iwi e tau nei, tena koutou. E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Mr Borthwick, Ms Powley (President and Vice President of the NZAPEP), distinguished guests and visitors to New Zealand,…

This is the second Auckland Mayoral Prayer Breakfast I have had the pleasure of attending, and the fifth I think around the country. Your approach is a little different from that in Wellington and Lower Hutt, where I have also been, because here you focus…

Mr Chairman (Sir Roy McKenzie), our distinguished visitors from overseas, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your welcome and for the opportunity to share in the opening of your conference. For the opportunity, too, to increase my knowledge about the…

Ms D'Ath, ladies and gentlemen, tena koutou. Thank you for your welcome and your invitation to be here with you today. I happily accepted the request that I officially launch this publication, "Literacy in the Workplace," and in doing so, that I say…

Your Honour, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Society has nothing more precious than its youth. We brought them into the world. To a large extent we made them what they are. To them, we entrust our hopes and our aspirations. To them, we look…

E nga mana - e nga reo - rau rangatira ma - tena koutou. Nga hau e wha - nga iwi e tau nei - tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. In New Zealand's second official language, I too extend a welcome, saying: To all our distinguished guests, to all…

Anneke Boren, President of the New Zealand Society, and Vera Burton, President of the Wellington Association, our three international visitors, Mrs Kazuyo Hiruma from Japan, Les Manning from Canada and Sandra Taylor from Australia, and all potters here…

Uuia kia Rangi-nui e tuu iho nei - ia Papa-tua-nuku e takoto ake nei - tohia nga hua o te tau- hue ha! E wehi ano to te rangi - e wehi ano to te whenua - e wehi ano to te takiwa Tihei mauri ora! Te Arawa tapu - Te Arawa mana - Te Arawa waka - Te Arawa iwi…

E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma: tena koutou. Nga hau e wha, nga iwi e tau nei: tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.   Mr Chairman, our visitors from overseas, my fellow New Zealanders. We have been welcomed in the traditional manner of…

First, may I say thank you to Harvey and Sarah for their inspiring address. They have not just talked about The Father Factor. They have given us a telling demonstration of it: of the kind of relationship there can and should be between father and…